The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has charged risk managers and practitioners in the country to ensure that their activities in their respective organizations support government’s efforts towards achieving inclusive and sustainable growth in the nation’s economy.

The CBN boss gave the charge at the Certified Risk Managers (CRM) induction ceremony, organised by the Risk Managers Association (RIMAN) in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), held recently in Lagos.

Represented by the Director, Risk Management, CBN/Chairman, Board of Trustees, RIMAN, Falakemi Fatogbe, Emefiele noted that the job of risk management was not meant for a particular set of people in a particular organization but was a job for everyone and every organization.

According to him, “the report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that as at the end of last year, the nation’s economy grew by 0.83 per cent. As Nigerians, we are happy for the result, but as risk managers, there are so many issues, which we must contend with.

“With the economic growth at 0.83 per cent and a population growth at 2.6 per cent, we still have a lot more to do. As risk managers, we need inclusive and sustainable growth and to actively seek other opportunities that can mitigate risks and allow banks to lend.

“We have achieved economic growth, but it’s not at the level that we want it to be. Even though we have seen oil prices bounce back, we are still running a deficit budget. We should know that as risk managers, that where 90 per cent of our foreign earnings comes from oil, we have a problem,” he said.

Emefiele, reiterated that the favourable economic growth of the nation was one of CBN’s target and urged risk managers to work to make Nigeria’s dependence on oil a reason to intensify efforts to diversify away from oil.

However, the President of RIMAN and Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Bank, Jude Monye, stated that the CRM programme was the first of it’s kind in Nigeria and the second in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Certified risk managers certification cannot be equated to any existing one. Some of us are certified Financial Risk Managers (FRM), but it has no local content. CRM has everything FRM has and at the same time has the local content for Nigeria.”

Monye congratulated the inductees, noting that the initiative was a step in the right direction in ensuring best practice in risk management in the country.